Female Merlin today
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Magic 
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Mystic
Sans cape though 
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I’m not a twitcher, but I wouldn’t be surprised if there was a bird called a Caped Merlin! 
Sadly not
Not yet. They’ve just found another great ape, after all.
VB
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True.
A few new species of bird are described each year. Sure to be plenty more to be found if you have the time, money and inclination to find them.
Never seen one this close.
Family kept a wounded/stranded Northumbrian youngster in a bath, until it was well enough. :))
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That’s a stunner
Cuckoo ‘Peckham’ has made it to South Chad. One last push for the Congo rainforest then it will have reached its winter destination.
https://www.bto.org/science/migration/tracking-studies/cuckoo-tracking/peckham
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Truly mind-boggling distances covered by migrating birds
Great Photo Paul.
Cheers, Dave. They’re annual breeders here before returning to the South for winter.
The locals call them ‘Tirricks’ (it’s onomatopoeic)
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This is amazing
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There is a full twitch going on just two miles from my house as 25 Hawfinches have decided for the last week that Barnards Gate is a good place to be. I have been there twice as It’s a quite exciting and rare event. Last week on Hols in Cornwall a firecrest landed just two feet ahead of me at eye level in good light - Brilliant.
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There’s been a massive influx of Hawfinch. Presumably there are Hornbeams there? They should stay until they’ve eaten all of the nuts then move on to find a fresh supply
Hopefully there will be plenty of hornbeams for them for a week or two. The birds are of scoping distance only on a private estate - It’s difficult to establish the exact number of hornbeams but I have seen them feeding- There appears to be a large supply of food as they have been pretty mobile in a mile or two radius. I am really pleased that I recently purchased a fixed 45x eyepiece for my scope apart from dropping it it’s been lucky.
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